


Class Presentation Anxiety

by a_mind_at_work



Series: Anxiety Laf [9]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety Disorder, Gen, M/M, Multi, basically Laf is super anxious to give this presentation and Thomas helps him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 12:13:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9323123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_mind_at_work/pseuds/a_mind_at_work
Summary: Come chill with me on tumblr for more Hamilton fun (and suffering)! @undiscoveredstory





	

Lafayette couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this shaky. His hands were cold and sweaty, and he felt like he was choking. He just wanted third period to arrive so he could get it over with. So he could finally breathe again.

“Laf, you okay?” John asked as the two boys walked to their second class of the day. “You’re actually vibrating.”

“I-I’m f-fine, mon ami,” Laf said, trying to still his shoulders to make his trembling less noticeable.

John looked him over for a moment and opened his mouth, but let out a tiny shriek instead of words. Laf turned to see Alex had jumped onto John’s back. The smaller boy was giggling as John steadied himself.

“Good morning, babe,” Alex said next to John’s ear.

“Oh my god,” John said. “You scared me!”

Normally Laf loved watching his friends banter, but he just couldn’t handle it today. He couldn’t get lost in their interactions, which were typically really good sources of distraction, like usual because he was so worried about this damn presentation.

Why did teachers have to make them worth 25% of their students’ grade? Why didn’t they understand that some students just weren’t good at them and never would be?

Laf mumbled goodbye to John and Alex, who were lost in each other’s laughter by that point, and sped off to class.

The 47 minutes of chemistry class dripped like water from a leaky faucet. Each moment was more annoying, more unbearable, than the next. When the bell finally rang, Laf felt like he was suffocating. He needed air. He needed air _now_.

He dashed out of the room and down the hall, bursting out the door to the courtyard. He gulped in deep breaths of the cool December air, not caring that he didn’t have a coat on and the cold was only making his anxiety-induced shaking worse.

“Hey, are you okay?” Thomas Jefferson stepped out from the shadow of the school building, where he’d apparently been leaning against the wall.

Lafayette was shocked. He’s just assumed he was alone out there. In the warmer months, the courtyard was always bustling, but come November, it was quickly deserted.

Jefferson took another step closer to Laf. While Alexander never had a good relationship with the Jefferson, Lafayette and Thomas had a special bond because Lafayette was from France and Thomas had taken part in a summer exchange program there.

“Gilbert?” Thomas asked. He was one of the only people allowed to call Laf that, since he pronounced it correctly.

Hearing his name in a proper French accent calmed Laf a bit. He looked up at Thomas. “I’m… I’m anxious about a presentation,” Laf stammered.

“When is it?”

Laf looked at his watch. “In three minutes.” As soon as the words left his mouth, the panic was back, choking him, shaking him to his core.

“Hey, take some deep breaths, okay?” Thomas said in a calm tone.

He counted out inhales and exhales for Laf. After a few moments, Laf’s head felt a little less jumbled. He felt a little bit less frantic.

“I used to get really nervous before presentations, too,” Thomas confided.

“How’d you get over it?”

“The brain is a powerful tool, and your anxiety is using it against you,” Thomas said. “I know it’s much easier said than done, but I want you to visualize giving the presentation. When your anxiety shows you a bad scenario, fight back against it with a good one.”

“A good one?”

“Imagine it going well,” Thomas said with a smile. “When your anxiety tries to convince you it’ll be a disaster, imagine the opposite. It sounds silly, but it works, and now I get to kick Hamilton’s butt at debate club every week without any anxiety,” he said with a wink.

Lafayette laughed. “I will try it, mon ami. Thank you, Thomas.”

“Any time,” he replied with a smile.

Lafayette knew he had to leave for class now or he would be late. As he walked to class, he did what Thomas had suggested. Every time his mind showed him his presentation going poorly, he thought of it going well. When his anxiety flashed images of him forgetting everything he’d ever learned about the Great Depression and floundering in front of his classmates and teacher, he countered it with an image of himself confidently talking about it, the audience hanging onto his every word. When his anxiety tried to tell him that he’d fail, he told himself he’d succeed.

He didn’t think Thomas’ technique would work. He really didn’t. _Thomas is just lucky. He just tapped into his natural abilities, his natural confidence._

Lafayette had never been so happy to be proven wrong.

**Author's Note:**

> Come chill with me on tumblr for more Hamilton fun (and suffering)! @undiscoveredstory


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